Sanding curves is tricky. Sometimes you need a sanding pad that’s both firm and flexible. A small notepad works great. Just wrap sandpaper around the pad and bend the pad to whatever arc you need. Slip the one end of the sandpaper between the pages to help hold it in place on the pad. Give this a try the next time you’re working on a project that has curves and tough to reach spots. Here’s a traditional Swedish farm accessory for gunk-laden soles. The dimensions are not critical, but be sure the edges of the slats are fairly sharp?they’re what makes the boot scraper work. Cut slats to length, then cut triangular openings on the side of a pair of 2x2s. A radial arm saw works well for this, but a table saw or band saw will also make the cut. Trim the 2x2s to length, predrill, and use galvanized screws to attach the slats from underneath. If you prefer a boot cleaner that has brushes, check out this clever project.
Here’s a nifty tip—with a nifty tip—from faithful reader Don Ayers: Fill snap-capped sports water bottles with glue and stick them upside down in a hunk of 2×6. Now you don’t have to wait for the glue to run into the neck of the bottle, and the cap will control glue flow (and never get lost!). To holster the glue dispensers, cut holes in the base with a spade bit that’s a smidgen larger than the cap’s diameter. Finding affordable lumber has always been a mainstay for woodworkers, and when you tie our dwindling natural resources into the conversation the time is right to look at milling your own lumber. This seven-part weekly video series takes you through how to find lumber, how to operate a sawmill, details on types of sawing methods, stickering and drying and ultimately advice on using a mill as part of a business. Learn what you need to know to understand Milling Your Own Lumber. Iron-on edge-banding is a quick way to cover up an edge on plywood. Trimming the excess, however, is tricky. I’ve tried edge-banding trimmers, but I find the results are unpredictable. With the trimmers I’ve tried, it wasn’t easy to change the direction of the cut to suit the grain direction of the edge-banding. If you’re cutting against the grain, you’re likely to tear out a chunk of your new edge-banding. Instead, I use a wide, sharp chisel. This way, I can read the grain direction and trim accordingly. Angle the chisel slightly and go slow, raising the back corner of the chisel just enough so that it doesn’t dig into the plywood veneer. Smooth the corner with a sanding block after trimming. Check out this amazing edge band veneering project! Here’s a nifty tip—with a nifty tip—from faithful reader Don Ayers: Fill snap-capped sports water bottles with glue and stick them upside down in a hunk of 2×6. Now you don’t have to wait for the glue to run into the neck of the bottle, and the cap will control glue flow (and never get lost!). To holster the glue dispensers, cut holes in the base with a spade bit that’s a smidgen larger than the cap’s diameter.
Not long ago, I needed to make some angled wood parts to build a new soffit on my garage. I didn’t have the customary tool for the job, but I had some steel joining plates. I screwed through one of the holes in the plate, set my angle, then added another screw to lock the angle. I could then use it as a template to mark all the pieces at the same angle and cut them with my circular saw. — Ryan Bartsch

Softwood is most commonly found in the regions of the world with lower temperatures and is typically less durable, lighter in weight, and more vulnerable to pests and fungal attacks in comparison to hardwoods. They typically have a paler color and a more open grain than hardwoods, which contributes to the tendency of felled softwood to shrink and swell as it dries.[9] Softwoods usually have a lower density, around 25-37lb/cu ft, which can compromise its strength.[9] Density, however, does vary within both softwoods and hardwoods depending on the wood's geographical origin and growth rate. However, the lower density of softwoods also allows it to have a greater strength with lighter weight. In the United States, softwoods are typically cheaper and more readily available and accessible.[9] Most softwoods are suitable for general construction, especially framing, trim, and finish work, and carcassing.[10][9]

Here, I am writing about another DIY project that involves the use of an old furniture piece. I think that the idea of reusing and recycling old furniture has got to me. Anyways, I am starting to love it. This project involves using an old door to build a beautiful multi picture frame, as you can see in the image below. This frame looks really wonderful and can be used to hold many pictures at a time.
Check out our new Brazos Net Rips! With new, state-of-the-art equipment we can rip lumber to your finished width with ultimate precision and accuracy using glue-line rip blades. Our saw can even rip parallel edges of random width boards using laser guided technology to ensure the highest yield possible out of each and every board. Start getting the most out of your lumber, contact your local Brazos sales representative today for more information!
Making a garden arched footbridge out of some wood boards can be fun, hard working plan and also it’s quite rewarding. We are providing the project tutorial for how to build an arched footbridge without rails or having rails. If you take your hands of work and have some basic woodworking skills you can easily build this type of bridge. While this garden bridge is too small to walk over but it can make a really stunning addition to your lush yard or garden.

Furnishing and decorating your patio is not an easy task – but then again, it has to be done! Your patio is obviously one of the most important rooms in your home, as you can easily turn it into your little piece of Heaven, your “safe spot” in your home where you can retreat whenever you want to ignore the world and just spend some time alone all by yourself.

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Figure out a simple setup for your woodworking space. You don’t need a fancy and expensive workshop or garage to start woodworking. In fact, we’ve never had a workshop or garage (though I do dream of having one haha). In our current town home, we always setup a temporary workshop table in our backyard with a pair of sawhorses and a plywood board from the home improvement store. The rubber cushion on my old palm sander was wearing thin around the edges. Because of its age, I couldn’t find a replacement pad. As I was drinking my beverage with a foam can cover around it, I realized I could cut the foam to fit the sander and glue it on. I peeled off the old pad, cleaned the metal base and attached the foam with contact cement. Works for clamp-on as well as stick-on sanding squares! You can find can covers at discount and convenience stores. — Allen J. Muldoon

Isn’t this amazing that instead of having to throw that old furniture piece away, you can now reuse it to build something even more beautiful? If you do not like this particular idea, there are many other re-purposeful furniture items you can build from an old dresser. Just search the internet for other DIY project ideas. Here is a link to the video tutorial that explains the same procedure in a more practical manner that you can easily follow through.

As you can see in the image, this shelf goes on both sides of the corner wall. It looks beautiful and can be used to organize books, trophies, pictures frames and many other things. The strength and design of the shelf depends on how properly you build it. First time workers definitely need some guidance to help them with the process. Therefore, I am including this basic video that I found on YouTube that demonstrates the process of making corner wall wooden shelves.

The engineering involved in building this garden bench is pretty simple, and we have provided some links to get a full cut list and plans with photos to help you along the way. Additionally, to the stock lumber, you will need wood screws, barrel locks, and hinges to complete the table. A miter saw or hand saw is also extremely helpful for cutting down your stock to the correct angle and length.

Making an art or a design on a wooden piece is a hectic task and requires good art skills. But there is another much easier way to carve a beautiful art on any wood surface. For this, you will need the image or graphic that you want to transfer, a piece of wood, freezer paper, etc. I, myself have made several such designs. At the source below, you can find a step by step guide for transferring a graphic image to the wood.

Iron-on edge-banding is a quick way to cover up an edge on plywood. Trimming the excess, however, is tricky. I’ve tried edge-banding trimmers, but I find the results are unpredictable. With the trimmers I’ve tried, it wasn’t easy to change the direction of the cut to suit the grain direction of the edge-banding. If you’re cutting against the grain, you’re likely to tear out a chunk of your new edge-banding. Instead, I use a wide, sharp chisel. This way, I can read the grain direction and trim accordingly. Angle the chisel slightly and go slow, raising the back corner of the chisel just enough so that it doesn’t dig into the plywood veneer. Smooth the corner with a sanding block after trimming. Check out this amazing edge band veneering project!
Drill four 5/8-in.-dia. 1/2-in.-deep holes on the large disc?inside the traced circle?then use 5/8-in. dowel centers to transfer the hole locations to the underside of the small disc. Drill four 1/2-in.-deep holes on the underside of the small disc and a 1/2-in.-deep hole in the center of the top for the dowel handle. Glue in the dowels to join the discs, and glue in the handle. We drilled a wood ball for a handle knob, but a screw-on ceramic knob also provides a comfortable, attractive grip.
I’m 91 years old, but I still enjoy spending time in the wood shop. I like to make wooden toys and give them to my great-grandkids and charity groups. One trick I’ve learned over the years is to use emery boards—the kind for filing fingernails— to sand small parts. Emery boards come in different sizes, and some are more abrasive than others, so I keep an assortment on hand. — Joe Aboussleman

Brazos is committed to providing the highest quality with superior service. Many of our team members have 30 plus years experience in the hardwood industry and that makes Brazos Forest Products the clear leader for hardwood distribution in Texas and Louisiana. Quality, Service and Commitment are what Brazos strives for each and every day to take care of our customers. This makes Brazos Forest Products the clear choice for all your Hardwood, Plywood and Custom Moulding needs.

Another awesome thing about this coffee table is that it is also has a storage unit. So you can store drinks, and other stuff in the half barrel of your table and then close or open it whenever you need. Pete has also constructed a video for this tutorial for which you can find the link below. It illustrates the same process in a video guide that shows you the exact process to be followed while building this whiskey barrel coffee table. Along with stone, clay and animal parts, wood was one of the first materials worked by early humans. Microwear analysis of the Mousterian stone tools used by the Neanderthals show that many were used to work wood. The development of civilization was closely tied to the development of increasingly greater degrees of skill in working these materials.

Finding affordable lumber has always been a mainstay for woodworkers, and when you tie our dwindling natural resources into the conversation the time is right to look at milling your own lumber. This seven-part weekly video series takes you through how to find lumber, how to operate a sawmill, details on types of sawing methods, stickering and drying and ultimately advice on using a mill as part of a business. Learn what you need to know to understand Milling Your Own Lumber.

Simply soak a washcloth in water and ring it out a bit so it’s not sopping wet. Put the damp washcloth on the affected area. The water will wick through the wood, and that’s fine. Now, with your iron on its highest setting, place it on the damp washcloth over the affected area, and make small movements back and forth and in circles. Press down firmly and continue until your wash cloth is dry. It won’t take long to evaporate. At this point, the wood fibers are absorbing the water and should expand back to where they were originally. Continue this process and repeat by adding more water until the dents rise up to be flush with the rest of the material. How do you divide 11-3/8-in. (or any other mathematically difficult number) into equal parts without dividing fractions? Simple. Angle your tape across the workpiece until it reads an easily-divisible dimension and make your marks with the tape angled. For example, say you want to divide an 11-3/8-in. board into three equal parts. Angle the tape until it reads 12-in., and then make marks at “4” and “8”. Plus: More measuring tips and tricks. Old doors laid across sawhorses make great temporary workbenches, but they take up a lot of space when you’re not using them. Instead of full-size doors, I use bifold doors with hinges so I can fold them up when I’m done working. They’re also easier to haul around in the pickup for on-the-road jobs. — Harry Steele. Here are 12 more simple workbenches you can build. Making an art or a design on a wooden piece is a hectic task and requires good art skills. But there is another much easier way to carve a beautiful art on any wood surface. For this, you will need the image or graphic that you want to transfer, a piece of wood, freezer paper, etc. I, myself have made several such designs. At the source below, you can find a step by step guide for transferring a graphic image to the wood.
The beauty of this project lies in the simplicity. All you need are 3 pieces of wood of your choice (though we must admit natural hardwoods will look incredible), sanding block, clamps, wood glue and finishing product. The hardest step of the whole tutorial is measuring – as always, measure 9 times, cut once! You wouldn’t want to finish your project and then realize it doesn’t have enough space to fit your DVD player, would you?

We will suggest you select the simple Birdhouse if you are new at woodworking but be sure to select its design with respect to the place where you are going to hang/place it. One of our simple Birdhouse tutorials will help you building one. We have managed to include a source tutorial below that will help you to understand illustrates and the instruction to building a simple Birdhouse.

For many of us, the moment we learned that a 2×4 board is actually 1.5 inches x 3.5 inches was simply mind-blowing. The reason for this apparent contradiction is that the board has been planed down to eliminate irregularities. At one point, many years ago, 2x4s actually were 2 inches x 4 inches, but their rough surfaces made them difficult to stock and handle. The old terms, such as 2×4 or 4×4, are still used, and are known as the “nominal” size of the board. These nominal sizes are used because they are easier to say and they stick to tradition. Now, thanks to a lawsuit, most big box stores list the nominal and actual sizes of lumber.

Building a wine rack is usually a very common beginner's woodworking plan. Creating a wine rack is an easy plan that can most of the time be completed in a day or half, depending on how large and detailed you would like it to be. And the better news is that this free wine rack plan will let you build you a great looking wine rack for much less than it would cost.

​The plan tutorial includes images, diagrams, step-by-step instructions, and even a video to help you along the way. You can also go with some more bookcase design ideas. Browse the internet for more and we are also proving a link below to some more ideas to this plan. Select and build one of these free bookcase DIYs and you will have everything available easily that you need to get started creating a bookshelf for any room in your house.

If you bought this superb polished table in a store, it would cost you a fortune, but our detailed instructions will help you make one for less than $100. And it looks like highly polished stone, but no-one would know it’s actually made from concrete with a wooden base. Also, you can embellish the top with leaf prints, like the table shown here, or personalize it with glass or mosaic tiles or imprints of seashells.

Sanding curves is tricky. Sometimes you need a sanding pad that’s both firm and flexible. A small notepad works great. Just wrap sandpaper around the pad and bend the pad to whatever arc you need. Slip the one end of the sandpaper between the pages to help hold it in place on the pad. Give this a try the next time you’re working on a project that has curves and tough to reach spots. This plan is probably the easiest plan ever added in the list. The one who is working on this project, don’t need any professional skills but just knowing some basics of woodworking will be enough for this DIY. You will get step by step detailed process of this tutorial in the source linked tutorial. This tutorial will surely help you to build this plan quickly.
Here’s an easier way to stain or seal chairs, lattice or anything with numerous tight recesses. Pour the stain into a clean, empty spray bottle ($3). Spray the stain onto the project and wipe up the excess with a brush or rag. The sprayer will squirt stain into all those tight, hard-to-reach cracks and joints. — Valrie Schuster. Learn more about staining wood.

You can also make one for elders and put it in your garden or terrace or anywhere in the house. Elders can use it to relax and kids can use it to play or sleep. Although this is a really beautiful piece of woodwork, it is not that easy to make. Only someone with good woodworking skill can think of making this swing set. Also, I couldn’t find a good tutorial that illustrates the process of building a wooden boat-shaped swing set. Most Probably, I will write one when I build mine.But if you really want this swing set like right now, I would suggest you hire a good woodworker, who can build something similar. Or just search the internet and maybe you get lucky enough to find a tutorial for this. Good luck either way.

The space behind a door is a storage spot that’s often overlooked. Build a set of shallow shelves and mount it to the wall behind your laundry room door. The materials are inexpensive. Measure the distance between the door hinge and the wall and subtract an inch. This is the maximum depth of the shelves. We used 1x4s for the sides, top and shelves. Screw the sides to the top. Then screw three 1×2 hanging strips to the sides: one top and bottom and one centered. Nail metal shelf standards to the sides. Complete the shelves by nailing a 1×2 trim piece to the sides and top. The 1×2 dresses up the shelf unit and keeps the shelves from falling off the shelf clips. The video explains the step by step process of making a nice wooden phone stand from scratch. My first wooden holder was not the best one, but it was good enough to motivate me to make more. I now possess 10 mobile wooden stands in different shapes and styles. And if I can make this, you too can make one yourself. Search the internet for more mobile holder ideas and start making one now.

The video explains the step by step process of making a nice wooden phone stand from scratch. My first wooden holder was not the best one, but it was good enough to motivate me to make more. I now possess 10 mobile wooden stands in different shapes and styles. And if I can make this, you too can make one yourself. Search the internet for more mobile holder ideas and start making one now.

This is probably one the easiest woodworking projects you will find here. Although easy, a doormat is an equally important and useful item for households. As you can see in the image below, you will only need some 2X2 wooden boards and rope to build a simple doormat. This doormat is mostly useful for outdoor and porch. It will easily remove all the mud from your shoes with just one wipe. It is also very easy to clean and looks fabulous even if it is dirty.
Fir, also known as Douglas Fir, is very inexpensive and common at local home centers. It has a characteristic straight, pronounced grain with a red-brown tint. However, its grain pattern is relatively plain and it does not stain well, so Fir is commonly used when the finished product will be painted. While commonly used for building, this softwood would also be suitable for furniture-making as well.[12] Often times at first glance a board looks straight and the fact that it is actually bowed or has some warping isn’t always obvious. So the trick to knowing for sure, is to hold the board up towards your face, with the other end on the ground, and look at it at a downward angle (as shown in the below photo). This method will allow you to see if it is bowing at all.
Each entry must feature some kind of inlay. This can be wood, glass, metal, etc. Epoxy pours are not allowed per /u/kevin0611's request. An epoxy pour does not count as an inlay for the sake of this contest. (Example would be cutting a pattern on CNC or by hand then filling with a colored epoxy to give the illusion that it's inlay.) Bowties, marquetry, and banding are good examples of allowed inlay in this contest.
Check out our new Brazos Net Rips! With new, state-of-the-art equipment we can rip lumber to your finished width with ultimate precision and accuracy using glue-line rip blades. Our saw can even rip parallel edges of random width boards using laser guided technology to ensure the highest yield possible out of each and every board. Start getting the most out of your lumber, contact your local Brazos sales representative today for more information!